SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Over the weekend, we asked all our Facebook buddies to upload their old photos of Sheepshead Bay and tag them “Sheepshead Bites”. We were happy to see some readers listened, and a dozen or so photos poured in. This one came from Lisanne, a 1961 photo of East 13th Street looking towards Homecrest Avenue and Neck Road. I can’t even begin to imagine fields in Sheepshead Bay.

It’s not too late to add yours. Go friend us on Facebook, and then start uploading new and old photos of the area and tag them “Sheepshead Bites”. They’ll still be totally under your control – it just allows our friends to see them.

Gravesend Neck Road, between East 14 and East 15 Streets gains parking meters.

A worker at the New Great Wall Chinese take-out, across the street from where the picture above was taken (1419 Gravesend Neck Road), told us that he noticed the new meters on the south side of the street two or three months ago and that the meters were installed on a portion of the north side of the road “a couple of years ago.”

Now that there are meters prohibiting parking for more than two hours at a time, commuter parkers have taken note. One man we spoke with – a Florida snowbird retiree who still has a home in Marine Park and visits Brooklyn a few times a year – told us,

For me, it’s not much of a problem, because I just come here once in a while when I’m visiting my house and family and need to get on the subway, which is a whole other mess — but, I remember when this place hardly had any cars.

Gravesend Neck Road was known as a relatively quiet street, traffic-wise. The numerous businesses lining the road attract mainly nearby residents, who prefer getting to know their local merchants as opposed to shopping on busy Avenue U.

Commuters looking to avoid bus fare and tired of the mile long walk to the Gravesend Neck Road station from the boondocks of Gerritsen Beach, let’s say, would drive to Neck Road and park all day. The road was known as one that was safe and quiet, one without meters, where the commuter could come back from their long day at work in Manhattan and not have to worry about a parking ticket.

Referring to the lesser used local train station, the blogger known as Chicken Underwear, who grew up in Sheepshead Bay, but now resides in Park Slope, said, “why does everybody from Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach and Coney Island have to stop there when the trains are running local?” That the city sees Gravesend Neck Road as the next parking meter cash cow suggest an answer to his question. They recognize that many people are frequenting the area.

As for the residents who are now missing parking spots, they’ll just have to cut an illegal curb on the sidewalk in front of their home.

As we informed you last week, the Avenue U and Neck Road train stations have reopened their Coney Island-bound platforms after more than one year.

Featuring wider platforms and wood-ish paneling, the station had its first commuters yesterday and were caught by photographer Paul Anderson.

Below you’ll see photos of the new station – a sign of things to come all along the B/Q line – which is not yet totally complete. You’ll see work is still being done on the stairwell and on the platform itself. The station’s signs appear to also be in commute, as workers temporarily placed dirty, tagged up signs from the other side of the tracks until new ones are installed.

So… we await your photos of gummed up platforms and graffiti’d walls…

And now the photos

Following yesterday’s report about graffiti vandals tagging the subway platforms at Gravesend Neck Road and Avenue U, one reader sent us a much better shot of the crap at Neck Road. Thank you, reader, you can collect your free hug when we finally have our first Sheepshead Bites meetup.

Courtesy of BrooklynQ

Reports began pouring in about a week ago that the Avenue U and Gravesend Neck Road train stations were already covered in graffiti. It wasn’t very long ago that the platforms finally began to take shape after a year of work, and as soon as they had walls they got some “art.”

Seriously, Sheepshead Bay needs better street artists. These guys suck.

On a related note about things that suck – our budget. We couldn’t afford the $2.25 to go up on the platform and snap a shot, so all we’ve got is this cruddy cell phone photo from a reader. So please, send us more photos of the construction and the vandalism, and we’ll post them. Free hug for every published photo!

Send photos to nberke [at] sheepsheadbites [dot] com or upload them to your Facebook account and tag them with “Sheepshead Bites”

Construction inside the planned Starbucks location has been stalled for months

Bad news for those salivating in anticipation of the new drive-through Starbucks on Nostrand Avenue: their planned opening date has been pushed back by several months.

We reported back in July that the 3454 Nostrand Avenue (corner of Gravesend Neck Road) location would open this month. Unfortunately, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have slammed the brakes on the project over concerns of the location of the drive-through curb cut, according to Howard Weiss, an attorney for the property owner.

Weiss said that after the Board of Standards and Appeals granted a variance giving permission to construct a drive-through in May, construction kicked off and all seemed good. But he said the MTA renovated the B36 and B44 bus shelter there, moving it closer to the corner several feet.

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Just one month shy of the first-year anniversary of construction at the Avenue U and Gravesend Neck Road train stations, the sites reek of the failures soon to ail the rest of the line.

Artist's rendering of completed station rehabilitation at Neck Road. The station will have wider platforms, larger stairwells, more exits, and vision panels.

For those who don’t take the train often, above is a photo of the Avenue U train station taken from the platform. They began putting up new frames that will hold the walls here and at the Neck Road train station earlier this week. Work began on the two stations in December 2008, and the MTA said that they finish the Coney Island-bound sides by the end of 2009. Then they’d switch to the Manhattan-bound side, polishing off the project in 2010.

Well, that was the original plan. The MTA changed the Brighton Line Rehabilitation website to reflect the fact that these sites ain’t gettin’ done on time. The tentative date for completion for the Coney Island-bound side is now “Early 2010″, and the full project will be done in “Early 2011.”

If you haven’t noticed, this is the same “Two year plan” that has been extended to the rest of the local stops between Newkirk Avenue and Kings Highway. One year work on the Coney Island side, then one year on the Manhattan side. Gee, you think they’ll honor those schedules?

By the by, for anyone keeping track, the MTA has not yet responded to our leaders’ requests for more information. Politicians and organizers for the area met with MTA officials a month ago to ask for alternatives to the work and guarantees of the timetable. MTA told them they would be in touch in a few days after they had gathered relevant data. Apparently there are delays on that, too.

(Photo courtesy of Pamela Amri)

The garbage situation is growing larger around Sheepshead Bay — so much so, that maintenance people at this apartment building on Ocean Avenue (near Gravesend Neck Road) have put up four large garbage bags along the stretch of the front fence.

We’re thinking that the regular black garbage bags are just not bright enough for the polluters to spot. These bright blue bags will be hard to miss, though.

It used to be that the front of a building was dressed up for aesthetics with pretty flowers and shrubbery. In the modern day of excess packaging and people generating so much garbage in the form of empty bottles, coffee cups, and other junk, there is just not enough place to discard this stuff. There was a time, when most people just tucked the errant candy wrapper or chewed up gum and placed it in their pocket where they would discard it at home. Yes, people, I said home! Nowadays, without even a glimmer of guilt, many people just dump the excess weight onto the sidewalk, leaving a trail of debris behind them.

Sheepshead Bay needs to rediscover its roots, when people cared about the cleanliness of the environment. I’m sure you old-timers will know what we’re talking about, here.

Mystery solved. Signs went up this morning, and the new business on Nostrand Avenue and Gravesend Neck Road will be yet another 99ȼ store.

When we first reported (to a lukewarm reception [and here,too])  that the Starbucks next door was to open in December, we didn’t yet know who the neighbor would be. Starbucks, after all, was to take up a small section of the two-unit retail lot, with the bulk going to a mystery biz. But we’ve gotta admit, we’re totally underwhelmed by this announcement.

USA 99ȼ store has a few other locations in the city, usually in working-class and lower-income neighborhoods. And honestly, we have nothing against them. But the arrival of Starbucks, with nearby Brennan & Carr, some good pizza in the area, a much cleaner looking KFC, and a host of newer, better businesses along the avenue – we were really hoping for something that would continue to signal a turnaround of that lackluster section of Nostrand. But this is more of the same. Does Sheepshead Bay need another 99ȼ store?

(Photo and tip courtesy of Arthur B.)

Local baristas: start shaking in your cups. Big, bad corporate coffee is on its way to Sheepshead Bay.

Sure, we’ve known since last November that a Starbucks is moving in on Sheepshead Bay territory, but it wasn’t clear when. Well, the Seattle-based chain will be pushing its brand of coffee and pastries at Nostrand Avenue and Gravesend Neck Road sometime in December. The little building now under construction, pictured above, will only be part Starbucks. The java-brewer will take up the space on the far side from the corner, while the corner space will be another retail unit still to be decided.

We got up close and took a peek at the construction, and in the back of the building we can see what clearly is a drive-through lane (image at left). No word yet on whether you will also be able to walk in and order, but there doesn’t seem to be space for parking or seating. But hey, you’ll be so jazzed up on caffeine after getting your drink that it won’t matter!

If you think this is good news, then check out the coupon we’re telling people about on Facebook that gets Starbucks customers a free pastry with any coffee over $3.00. Sadly, it’s only good until 10:30 a.m. today, so be sure to Facebook us and print yours!